''Chase a Crooked Shadow'' ( ''Sleep No More'') is a 1958 British suspense film starring
Richard Todd
Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...
,
Anne Baxter and
Herbert Lom
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 ye ...
.
Michael Anderson directed ''Chase a Crooked Shadow'', the first film produced by Associated Dragon Films, a business venture of
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Plot
In her family's Spanish villa, Kimberly Prescott (Baxter), a young South African heiress of a diamond company, is grieving after her father's recent suicide, when she is taken aback by the arrival of a man (Todd) claiming to be her brother Ward, believed to have died in a car accident a few months ago. Kimberly calls the police but the man has a driving licence, passport and letter from the bank in the name of Ward Prescott. Even two photos from upstairs look like the man now in her house. The local police chief, Vargas, leaves, believing Kim to be unstable.
The next day Kim is woken by an unknown woman who says she is Mrs Whitman, a friend of Ward's. Kim's maid has been given time off. A butler has also been installed in the house. Kim attempts to contact Uncle Chan who knows both her and the real Ward, but when Chan finally shows up he greets the imposter as if he were the real Ward. Kim suspects the imposter may be after her inheritance and later in the plot, he and Mrs Whitman try to get Kim to sign a will. However, there is also a conversation whereby "Ward" says he suspects Kim of having stolen diamonds from their late father's company's vault. He has a record of flights she took that leave a gap in her itinerary. Eventually Kim admits she took the diamonds to Tangiers. "Ward" and Mrs Whitman then get her to sign an introduction for "Ward" as her agent to the bank in Tangiers.
Kim tries to escape to the beach house below the main villa. Someone has followed her and she almost shoots him with a spear gun. It is Vargas. She shows him the will and he starts to believe her story. He suggests she provide him with something holding "Ward"'s fingerprints as he cannot fake these. She is able to do this after meeting "Ward" on the terrace. They drink brandy and flirt until "Ward" is on the phone and Mrs Whitman has gone upstairs. Kim goes to the beach house and takes a metal box from the chimney. She sneaks back up to the villa and tries to leave through the front door. Uncle Chan blocks her path.
Her captors take her to the terrace and open the box. With the diamonds on the table they demand she sign the will. Then 'Ward' suggests they go for a swim. Mrs Whitman suggests they take a boat. Kim assumes they plan to drown her and runs into the house. Then Vargas arrives. She begs him to save her as the others have threatened to drown her. She thinks he will reveal the man to be an imposter but he says the fingerprints are a match for her brother. At this point Kim has a meltdown and starts saying that her brother has to be dead "because I killed him". She says she cut the brakes on his car and followed, to see him drive to his death off a cliff. Once she has made this confession it is revealed that "Ward" and Mrs Whitman were undercover police sent to find the missing diamonds and discover the truth behind the real Ward's death.
Cast
*
Richard Todd
Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...
as Ward McKenzie Prescott Jr.
*
Anne Baxter as Kimberley Prescott
*
Herbert Lom
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 ye ...
as Inspector Vargas
*
Faith Brook as Elaine Whitman
*
Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor on stage, screen, and occasionally television. He was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance as Woodrow Wilson in the film '' Wilson'' (1944).
...
as Chandler Bridson
*
Alan Tilvern
Alan Tilvern (5 November 1918 – 17 December 2003) was an English actor. He was known for usually playing "tough-guy" roles.
Life
Tilvern was born 5 November 1918 in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, to Jewish-Lithuanian parents, who c ...
as Carlos
* Thelma D'Aguilar as Maria
Production
The film was originally known as ''The Prescott Affair''. The story was optioned by Dragon Films which belonged to the team of heiress Pamela Woolworth (niece of
F.W. Woolworth
Frank Winfield Woolworth (April 13, 1852 – April 8, 1919) was an American entrepreneur, the founder of F. W. Woolworth Company, and the operator of variety stores known as "Five-and-Dimes" (5- and 10-cent stores or dime stores) which featured ...
) and
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who had made ''
The Silken Affair
''The Silken Affair'' is a 1956 British romantic comedy film directed by Roy Kellino and starring David Niven, Geneviève Page, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Joan Sims, Irene Handl and Ronald Squire. The screenplay concerns an accountant who is creative ...
''. Dragon developed the story and script, assigning it to two TV writers David Osborn and Charles Sinclair.
Roy Kellino
Roy Kellino (born Philip Roy Gislingham; 22 April 1912 – 18 November 1956) was an English film director, producer and cinematographer.
Biography
He was born Philip Roy Gislingham in Lambeth, South London, the son of the silent-era direct ...
originally was attached to produce and direct.
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
was the first male star announced.
Dragon obtained finance from the
Associated British Picture Corporation
Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appro ...
(ABPC) who had a releasing arrangement with Warner Bros. The production company became known as Associated Dragon. ABPC's involvement saw director Michael Anderson and star Richard Todd come on to the project. The title was changed to ''Sleep No More'', then ''Chase a Crooked Shadow'' and filming started in May 1957. Fairbanks Jr. said he was pressured to make a cameo in the film but refused.
[Bawden and Miller]
2016, p. 104.
/ref> Some of the exteriors were shot in Tamariu and Palamos on the Costa Brava
The Costa Brava (, ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Whilst sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava, it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeast o ...
. The guitar music that forms a significant part of the soundtrack is played by Julian Bream
Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public per ...
.
Reception
''Chase a Crooked Shadow'' received mixed reviews. Bosley Crowther in his review for ''The New York Times'' considered the plot as overly complex and torturous but that the melodrama was "nothing amazing, and neither is this film. It's just a moderately well-done program picture, endowed with a couple of standard thrills".''
Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of four stars, calling it an "exciting, Hitchcock-like melodrama".
Remakes
''Chase a Crooked Shadow'' was remade in India a few times, as the Bengali-language film ''Sesh Anka
''Sesh Anka'' () is a 1963 Indian Bengali-language thriller film directed by Haridas Bhattacharya and made by Kalpana Movies, Kolkata. This film was loosely inspired by the 1958 film ''Chase a Crooked Shadow''. The story and screenplay was writt ...
'' (1963), the Tamil-language film ''Puthiya Paravai
''Puthiya Paravai'' () is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film directed by Dada Mirasi. Produced by Sivaji Ganesan, the film stars himself, B. Saroja Devi, M. R. Radha and Sowcar Janaki, with Nagesh, Manorama, V. K. Ramasamy ...
'' (1964), the Hindi-language film ''Dhuan
''Dhuan'' ( hi, Smoke) is a 1981 Hindi-language thriller film, produced by Gautham Guha under the Sri Sai Chitra banner and directed by Dulal Guha. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Ranjeeta, Raakhee, Amjad Khan and Jeetendra in a guest appearance ...
'' (1981), and the Malayalam-language films 'Rahasyam,' Prem Naseer starrer, 'Ithile Vannavar' of Madhu and ''Charithram
''Charithram'' () is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language thriller film starring Mammootty and Rahman, along with Shobana, Lizy, Jagathy Sreekumar, Janardhanan, Murali and Pappu in other pivotal roles. It was written by S. N. Swamy and directed ...
'' (1989)
The earlier two Indian films later served as an inspiration for the French play ''Piège pour un homme seul'' (''Trap for a Lonely Man'') by Robert Thomas. The play served as the source material for various television films such as '' Honeymoon with a Stranger'' and ''One of My Wives Is Missing
''One of My Wives Is Missing'' is a television mystery thriller ( ABC, 1976) with Jack Klugman, Elizabeth Ashley, James Franciscus, Joel Fabiani, and others. The teleplay was based on the 1960 stage play ''Trap for a Single Man'' by Robert Thoma ...
'' that originally aired on ABC Movie of the Week
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, as well as '' Vanishing Act'' that originally aired on CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. The 2019 Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n film ''Misteri Dilaila
''Misteri Dilaila'' () is a 2019 Malaysian Malay-language psychological horror thriller film directed by Syafiq Yusof. The film follows a couple as the wife goes missing after the husband experiences strange events during their first night stayin ...
'' is also loosely based on these films. The movie was also an inspiration for the 1989 Hindi move ''Khoj Khoj or KHOJ may refer to:
Film
* ''Khoj'' (1953 film), a Bollywood film of 1953
* ''Khoj'' (1971 film), an Indian Hindi-language drama film
* ''Khoj'' (1989 film), an Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller film
* ''Khoj'', an Indian short film ...
'' which was remade in Telugu as ''Police Report'' and in Kannada as ''Agni Sakshi''.
A stage adaptation of the original British film, called ''Double Cut'' and written by Alfred Shaughnessy
Alfred James Shaughnessy (19 May 1916 – 2 November 2005) was an English scriptwriter, film director and producer best known for being the script editor of '' Upstairs, Downstairs''.
Early life
Alfred Shaughnessy was born in London, his father, ...
, was first staged at the Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead in 1984, with Simon Williams and Lucy Fleming
Eve Lucinda "Lucy" Fleming (born 15 May 1947) is a British actress.
Biography
Early life and ancestry
Fleming was born in Nettlebed, England. She is the second daughter of actress Celia Johnson and writer Peter Fleming (brother of James Bo ...
in the leads, prior to touring the UK the following year with David Griffin and Tessa Wyatt
Tessa Wyatt (born 23 April 1948) is an English actress best known for her role as Vicky Tripp (née Nicholls) on the ITV sitcom '' Robin's Nest''.
Early life
Wyatt was born in Woking, Surrey in 1948 and attended Elmhurst Ballet School. She was ...
.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Bawden, James and Ron Miller. ''Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era''. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2016. .
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase A Crooked Shadow
1958 films
1950s mystery films
1950s English-language films
British black-and-white films
British mystery thriller films
Films shot at Associated British Studios
Films directed by Michael Anderson
Films set in Spain
Films shot in Barcelona
1950s British films